February 2026 | Released March 11, 2026

+2.41 percent
Consumer Price Index inflation
Feb 2025 to Feb 2026

+0.27 percent
Consumer Price Index inflation
Jan 2026 to Feb 2026

+0.14 percent
Change in real average weekly earnings
Jan 2026 to Feb 2026

Consumer Price Index

From January 2026 to February 2026:

• Headline CPI-U inflation was 0.27 percent.
  • Food price inflation was 0.39 percent.
  • Energy price inflation was 0.63 percent.
• Core CPI-U inflation was 0.22 percent.

From February 2025 to February 2026:

• Headline CPI-U inflation was 2.41 percent.
  • Food price inflation was 3.06 percent.
  • Energy price inflation was 0.48 percent.
• Core CPI-U inflation was 2.46 percent.

Note: Core CPI-U excludes food and energy.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index inflation

	Feb 2026	Jan 2026	Chg. from Jan 2026	Feb 2025	Chg. from Feb 2025
Month-over-month inflation
Consumer Price Index	0.27%	0.17%	0.10pp	0.23%	0.04pp
Core Consumer Price Index	0.22%	0.30%	-0.08pp	0.25%	-0.03pp
Food Consumer Price Index	0.39%	0.19%	0.20pp	0.19%	0.20pp
Energy Consumer Price Index	0.63%	-1.47%	2.10pp	-0.06%	0.69pp
Year-over-year inflation
Consumer Price Index	2.41%	2.39%	0.02pp	2.82%	-0.41pp
Core Consumer Price Index	2.46%	2.50%	-0.04pp	3.12%	-0.66pp
Food Consumer Price Index	3.06%	2.88%	0.18pp	2.61%	0.45pp
Energy Consumer Price Index	0.48%	-0.14%	0.62pp	-0.17%	0.65pp

Table 2. Cleveland Federal Reserve forecast

	Cleveland Fed forecast	Actual	Forecast error
Month-over-month inflation
Consumer Price Index	0.25%	0.27%	-0.02pp
Core Consumer Price Index	0.21%	0.22%	-0.01pp
Year-over-year inflation
Consumer Price Index	2.41%	2.41%	-0.01pp
Core Consumer Price Index	2.46%	2.46%	0.00pp

Real earnings

From January 2026 to February 2026:

For all employees on private nonfarm payrolls:

• Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.14 percent.
• Real average hourly earnings increased by 0.18 percent.

For production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls:

• Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.02 percent.
• Real average hourly earnings remained unchanged with a net change of 0.00 percent.

Note: “Real” measures are those adjusted for inflation.

Note: Weekly earnings are a better estimate of income than hourly earnings because they take into account the amount of hours worked.

Table 3. Change in real earnings

	Feb 2026	Jan 2026	Chg. from Jan 2026	Feb 2025	Chg. from Feb 2025
Month-over-month change
All employees
Real weekly earnings	0.14%	0.53%	-0.39pp	0.35%	-0.21pp
Real hourly earnings	0.18%	0.26%	-0.08pp	0.00%	0.18pp
Production and non-supervisory
Real weekly earnings	0.02%	0.55%	-0.53pp	0.13%	-0.11pp
Real hourly earnings	0.00%	0.30%	-0.30pp	0.10%	-0.10pp
Year-over-year change
All employees
Real weekly earnings	1.98%	1.91%	0.07pp	2.44%	-0.46pp
Real hourly earnings	1.32%	1.32%	0.00pp	1.89%	-0.57pp
Production and non-supervisory
Real weekly earnings	1.98%	2.44%	-0.46pp	2.22%	-0.24pp
Real hourly earnings	1.41%	1.51%	-0.10pp	1.95%	-0.54pp

Upcoming releases

Date	Time	Release	Data source
Mar 12	08:30 AM	Monthly Trade Update, January 2026	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Mar 27	08:30 AM	Monthly Expenditures Update, February 2026	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Mar 27	08:30 AM	Monthly GDP Update, Q4 2025 Third Estimate	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Apr 02	08:30 AM	Monthly Trade Update, February 2026	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Apr 03	08:30 AM	Monthly Employment Update, March 2026	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Apr 07	10:00 AM	Monthly Debt Update, April 2026	U.S. Treasury
Apr 08	10:00 AM	State Employment and Unemployment, January 2026	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Apr 10	08:30 AM	Monthly Inflation Update, March 2026	Bureau of Labor Statistics

Notes

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; JEC Republicans calculations

“pp” = percentage points; “M/M” = month over month; “Y/Y” = year over year

Consistent with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, monthly figures are seasonally adjusted. Discrepancy in change figures is possible due to rounding.